The J3 has more versatile EQ letting you tune to your tastes more, so that to your ears it will probably sound better.

Other than that.... The truth is that except for sound signature, which a decent player can change with EQ, all competent DAPs will sound the same. It's headphones and IEMs that have really interesting characteristics that can't be duplicated with EQ. The J3 has studio derived BBE technology for EQ and enough amp and battery capacity that you don't need to think about adding an amp to drive any sane portable headphone.

However, sq with either will depend far more on the headphones/iem than the DAP - my $30 Clip+ driving my HD25's kicks the J3's ass playing rock when the J3 is driving Ety HF5s (the Etys are great on clarity but have gutless bass.) If you want good sq, the real decision is what IEMs/heaphones to buy, then leftover money gets used for the DAP.

Warning! People who believe that amps can have magical properties indetectible by electronic engineering will disagree me with and say the mod pod will sound completely different depending on the amp you choose and that this can't be duplicated by EQ... However, these claims never survive blind testing, so a sensible person would ignore them.

I like this:

Quote:

The truth is that except for sound signature, which a decent player can change with EQ, all competent DAPs will sound the same. It's headphones and IEMs that have really interesting characteristics that can't be duplicated with EQ. The J3 has studio derived BBE technology for EQ and enough amp and battery capacity that you don't need to think about adding an amp to drive any sane portable headphone.

However, sq with either will depend far more on the headphones/iem than the DAP - my $30 Clip+ driving my HD25's kicks the J3's ass playing rock when the J3 is driving Ety HF5s (the Etys are great on clarity but have gutless bass.) If you want good sq, the real decision is what IEMs/heaphones to buy, then leftover money gets used for the DAP

This boils down to this: headphones or IEMs affect sound quality most.

In the same vein.

Where can I find a thread about pairing Sansa Clip+ with $20 -$25 IEMs

(I don't want ear buds.)

I've read on this site that some Sony IEMs FX ... (or something like that) need 500+ hours to burn.

This boils down to this: headphones or IEMs affect sound quality most.

In the same vein.

Where can I find a thread about pairing Sansa Clip+ with $20 -$25 IEMs

(I don't want ear buds.)

I've read on this site that some Sony IEMs FX ... (or something like that) need 500+ hours to burn.

This is sick!

A 500 hour burn-in sounds like bs.

Good $20 IEMs: look for the threads on the SHE3580 and 3590. Unless you are a bass-head, in which case you'll want whatever the current JVC Xtreme IEM is. There are other good choices, but if you check the main threads featuring those then people will tend to discuss the main alternatives. (I honestly think the Philips are better than $150 HF5s - only a little less clear in the mids and trebles but with much better formed bass. But ymmv to an extreme degree here - plus the HF5 is getting old and is overpriced.)

The Clip is one of the easiest DAPs to pair with an IEM because it has a low impedance (amp impedance should be less than 1/8 the IEM's impedance) and, oddly for such a small player, a more than averagely power amp - I use mine with pretty serious HD25-1-ii headphones and it had no problems driving them at all.

When people have done blind tests with an iPod and a cheap receiver amp against a $6000 CD player and matching amps, no one could tell the difference when the two systems were EDed to sound the same. So a silly little terra is hardly worth mentioning. It's a nasty secret of the audio industry that once jitter and noise are below audible levels - which a $30 Sansa Clip easily achieves - that all sources and amps can be EQed to sound the same. (Subject to impedance matching and the amp having enough power to drive the target - you won't drive a concert hall PA with a Clip.)

Otoh, there are serious differences sq differences between speakers and amps. Which is why you'll find people who seriously know what they are doing sometimes have a system like an old iPod or a Clip feeding a $100 Tripath amp... which feeds a set of $2000-4000 of Stax "earspeakers" (which seems to be Japanese for "very expensive headphone.") Or the speaker oriented crowd at The Audio Critic (google it) will use a similarly cheap source/combo feeding, no kidding, $15,000 of speakers.

When people have done blind tests with an iPod and a cheap receiver amp against a $6000 CD player and matching amps, no one could tell the difference when the two systems were EDed to sound the same. So a silly little terra is hardly worth mentioning. It's a nasty secret of the audio industry that once jitter and noise are below audible levels - which a $30 Sansa Clip easily achieves - that all sources and amps can be EQed to sound the same. (Subject to impedance matching and the amp having enough power to drive the target - you won't drive a concert hall PA with a Clip.)

Otoh, there are serious differences sq differences between speakers and amps. Which is why you'll find people who seriously know what they are doing sometimes have a system like an old iPod or a Clip feeding a $100 Tripath amp... which feeds a set of $2000-4000 of Stax "earspeakers" (which seems to be Japanese for "very expensive headphone.") Or the speaker oriented crowd at The Audio Critic (google it) will use a similarly cheap source/combo feeding, no kidding, $15,000 of speakers.

Well, this sounds like 'audio-blashemy' to me. I am not an audio expert, engineer, or even a DIY-er but I cannot acccept the following:

The DAC section in Sansa Clip+ (or other cheap digital audio players is as good as the DAC sections in the ODAC, Dragonfly, ... Benchmark, etc.

So from what I am reading here.... I am told that the DAP and amp or ( DAP only ? Please clarify) make no difference whatsoever??? Only the output ie speakers or top IEMs make all the difference?! Depending on the EQ?!!!!!

Wait re reading it amps do.make a big difference! So does this mean the quality of DAC and imods and all such things are a load of marketing BS? As amps coupled with earphones, speakers or headphones are the only determinants of the sound you hear? :O

When people have done blind tests with an iPod and a cheap receiver amp against a $6000 CD player and matching amps, no one could tell the difference when the two systems were EDed to sound the same. So a silly little terra is hardly worth mentioning. It's a nasty secret of the audio industry that once jitter and noise are below audible levels - which a $30 Sansa Clip easily achieves - that all sources and amps can be EQed to sound the same. (Subject to impedance matching and the amp having enough power to drive the target - you won't drive a concert hall PA with a Clip.)

Otoh, there are serious differences sq differences between speakers and amps. Which is why you'll find people who seriously know what they are doing sometimes have a system like an old iPod or a Clip feeding a $100 Tripath amp... which feeds a set of $2000-4000 of Stax "earspeakers" (which seems to be Japanese for "very expensive headphone.") Or the speaker oriented crowd at The Audio Critic (google it) will use a similarly cheap source/combo feeding, no kidding, $15,000 of speakers.

Scuttle, are you saying then, that provided you have a decent AMP, you can use EQ to handle the rest?

I'd be the first to admit I know absolutely nothing about EQ but interested to read up / learn more about it. Do you or anyone have any suggested reading I could do?

(I try searching on google and I come up with EQ for mixing, etc, which I don't know how relevant those articles are)